Homebrew PCBs

> I thik your price would find some buyers, but i would have to think
a lot  
> about it because i'm always short on money.

OK i understand your point. :) i will work out a model of paying in
small monthly fees around 10-50 USD is this ok?

For the more skilled most probably i will set up a web site with
detailes about construction of the device.

> What i wonder is how well it really works, considering the trouble
we had  
> when trying.

When you said that there is a company already doing soldermask
printing i searched the web and i found several companies doing
soldermask,uv resist and component legend printing so it is achievable.


> I expect you can only disclose limited amount of information, just
say if  
> you can't tell, i understand.
> 
> What sort of printhead do you use? piezo or thermo? commercial
product?  
> Industrial or consumer?
>

Actually you can do it yourself. The idea came from some devices used
in industrial enviorements. I saw some devices like that and i think
they can be adapted to our needs. I saw several thesis about printing
onto special materials like glass and metal.

so the printhead will probably be piezo. Therm cannot work due to the
fact that the ink vaporization is a critical problem and the ink
viscosity is high. Being a solvent based ink the thermal is out of the
question.

> What sort of ink do you use? solvent based / water based? UV cure?
other?
> 
> What colors can you print? Can you supply the ink / at what cost? Is
the  
> ink resistant against chemicals?

when the tests will start i will put the pictures along with the ink
composition onto the web site. So anybody who want's to use the print
head to be able to make his/her own ink. Of course i can supply the
ink if this is what you want...

> Do you have trouble with clogged nozzles? Can we see results?

Clogged nozzles are still a concern. I am trying to figure out a way
of stopping solvent evaporation and deposit in print head. For the
long term idle states like changing boards and overnight shutdown i
pulled up a way of cleaning the print head by replacing the working
ink with a cleaning fluid. So if you have long term idle states the
print head wil sense that and automatically will replace the ink with
the cleaning fluid. This of course will give some delay in startup but
 i think that you can live with that.

> How many nozzes does your printhead have? What resolution?
well ... the tubing for the nozzled did not arrived yet so i dont know
what resolution i can achieve and this is highly depending on ink.

will keep you posted. i am building now the site and the device as we
speak so please be patient.


iulian